Sunday, July 27, 2008

From a purely evolutionary point of view, warm periods have always benefited plants and animals. The world has thrived during the warming periods between the ice ages. Cold periods have always caused serious survival problems for all organisms including mankind. Scientific studies show that there will be 40,000 fewer deaths each year in the U.S. In Britain alone, scientists estimate that about 30,000 deaths a year are related to cold winter weather. Warmer temperatures in the U.S. will reduce medical costs by about $20 billion every year.

WARMER WEATHER WILL OPEN THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE:

As rising temperatures melt glaciers in the Arctic and particularly in Alaska, a new, faster trade route will soon open up. The Bering Strait, a legendarily difficult passage for ships, could become an oceanic super-highway between the hemispheres as ice sheets disappear. The seldom-used strait is set to become the Panama Canal of the north, cutting down travel time between Europe, America and Asia by as much as one-third. Experts predict the Northwest Passage will be open for year-round travel within a decade. This would be of particular importance for supertankers which are too big to fit through the Panama Canal and currently are forced to go around the tip of South America. This reduction of sea lane ice in the Arctic will be a dramatic boon to the shipping industry carrying cargo between the continents.

WARMER WEATHER MEANS MORE CROPS:

Satellite measurements now show that our planet has become greener than it was prior to the onset of global warming. The rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere dramatically increases overall global food production. The presence of carbon dioxide has a fertilizing effect on the growth of plant life. The warmer weather means a longer growing season, and thus greater output. This, combined with fewer frosts and more precipitation, among other factors, will greatly benefit all of the agricultural economic sectors, plus the positive impacts on forestry and recreation. In addition to the dramatic increase of actual land available for cultivation, natural resources would be much easier to extract. The overall economic impact of global warming on the U.S. economy will actually be positive, creating a measurable increase in Gross Domestic Product.

WARMER WEATHER MEANS MORE USABLE LAND:

As the ice retreats to the poles, more arable land will become available for both residential and agricultural purposes. Large land-masses in the northern hemisphere, just south of the Canadian/U.S. border, have some very extreme climates that can be quite inhospitable for human habitation. Most Canadians live in a belt running along its southern border with the United States. But once global warming is factored in, vast northern regions will become arable and comfortably habitable. All of Canada will welcome an agricultural boon field with long growing seasons. Heretofore uninhabitable land will not only become inhabitable, but even temperate.The process of converting northern US and Canadian forests and grasses to cropland will have a positive cooling effect, because agricultural crops reflect more sunlight and release more moisture into the air. This expanded agriculture will counteract global warming by as much as fifty-percent across parts of North America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The old boreal forests of both Canada and Russia add to global warming since these pine and waxy leafed trees are darker, thereby absorbing more heat, and, because of their leaf structure, do not evaporate cooling water into the surrounding air. The replacement of boreal forests with more tropical trees will dramatically aid in balancing and diminishing the negative affects of global warming.

WARMER WINTERS ARE SAFER:

With most streets free from ice and snow, driving will be a lot safer; No need to shovel snow reducing the stress induced heart attacks; Heating bills will be drastically lower; No need to waste money on all of that cold weather gear. Rail, road and air transportation would be positively impacted by a general warming since weather-related delays and accidents would be greatly reduced. Department of Energy studies show that consumer energy bills would be reduced by over $12 billion each year.Global warming will have no real effect, positive or negative, on economic activities such as manufacturing, retailing, wholesaling, banking, education and the majority of other businesses that are unrelated to cold weather. Of course cold weather activities, such as snow-sports, would be negatively affected.

1 comment:

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